Atari Flashback
 | |
| Atari Flashback 2 (2005) with one of its joysticks | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Atari, Inc. (Flashback and Flashback 2, designed by Legacy Engineering); AtGames under licence from 2011[1] |
| Type | Plug-and-play video game console series |
| Released | November 2004 (Flashback)[1] |
| CPU | Flashback: NES-on-a-chip (famiclone); Flashback 2: single-chip Atari 2600 (ASIC); Flashback 3 onwards: emulation[1][2] |
| Memory | — |
| Storage | Built-in games; no cartridge slot[1] |
| Display | Composite video (Flashback 2)[2] |
| Sound | — |
| OS / Firmware | — |
| Predecessor | Atari 2600, Atari 7800 |
The Atari Flashback is a series of plug-and-play consoles, first sold in November 2004, that play built-in Atari 2600 games, and on the first model some Atari 7800 games, without cartridges.[1] Curt Vendel and his company Legacy Engineering designed the first two models for Atari. The Flashback 2 of 2005 recreates the 2600 hardware on a single chip; the first Flashback used a Nintendo-compatible chip, and AtGames's models from the Flashback 3 of 2011 onwards use emulation.[1][2]
Models
[edit | edit source]| Model | Released | Built-in games | Hardware | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flashback | November 2004 | 20 (15 2600, 5 7800) | NES-on-a-chip | Styled as a small 7800; US$45; about 500,000 sold |
| Flashback 2 | August 2005 | 40, plus 2 hidden | Single-chip 2600 | About two-thirds the size of a 2600; US$30; 860,000 sold in the US; no PAL version; discontinued 2006 |
| Flashback 2+ | February 2010 | 40 | See below | Mostly the Flashback 2 line-up, with sports games in place of Pitfall!, River Raid and Wizard |
| Flashback 3 | September 2011 | 60 | Emulation | First AtGames model; cannot be modified to play cartridges |
| Flashback 4 | November 2012 | 75 | Emulation | Wireless joysticks |
| Flashback 5 | October 2014 | 92 | Emulation | |
| Flashback 6 | September 2015 | 100 | Emulation | |
| Flashback 7 | October 2016 | 101 | Emulation | |
| Flashback 8 | September 2017 | 105 (Classic); 120 (Gold) | Emulation | Gold edition adds HDMI at 720p, save, pause, rewind and scan-line filtering, and ports for original 2600 controllers |
Wikipedia calls the Flashback 2 the only model with 2600 hardware on a chip, while Nerdly Pleasures says that the models using emulation are those after the 2+. The two sources do not say directly what hardware the 2+ uses.[1][2] Later home models, from the Flashback X of 2019, are closer miniature copies of the 2600; the Flashback 12 Gold of 2023 has 130 games. AtGames also made a handheld, the Flashback Portable, from 2016.[1]
Flashback (2004)
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The first Flashback looks like a small Atari 7800. Its controllers are small copies of the 7800 joystick with added pause and select buttons, and they do not work on a real 7800. It runs on a Nintendo-compatible "famiclone" chip, so its versions of the 2600 and 7800 games differ from the originals; reviewers criticised flicker, collision detection and missing sound.[1][2]
Flashback 2 (2005)
[edit | edit source]The Flashback 2 is a miniature Atari 2600. Vendel's team built the 2600's 6507, 6532 and TIA into one ASIC. Nerdly Pleasures compares it with the single-chip boards fitted to some late 2600 Jr consoles, and describes it as very faithful but not perfect.[2] The console has a hard-wired cable carrying composite video and mono audio, and a colour/black-and-white switch at the back. Five buttons on the front replace the 2600's switches: power, reset, select and the two difficulty settings, which are push-in buttons with no marking to show the A or B position.[1][2]
The Flashback 2 joysticks and original 2600 joysticks work on both consoles.[1] The Flashback 2's controller ports are made for the slightly thinner plugs of its own joysticks, so original Atari and Sega controllers and Atari paddles work only if their plugs sit exactly right. Its joysticks press rubber carbon pads on to the circuit board, where the Atari CX40 uses metal domes.[2] Two paddle games, Super Breakout and Warlords, are on a hidden menu reached by moving the joystick up 1, down 9, up 7 and down 2 times at the main menu.[2][1]
Opening the Flashback 2
[edit | edit source]The circuit board carries 24 numbered pads for a cartridge connector, so the console can be modified to take 2600 cartridges; most games and the Harmony cartridge then run on it.[2][1] Flashback 2 Central's tutorial for its cartridge-slot kit describes the disassembly:[3]
- Remove the five case screws from the underside, one at each corner and one in the centre under the label. Nerdly Pleasures found two screws hidden under labels on his console.[2]
- Lift off the base. The AV cable passes through the bottom of the case; the tutorial's author cuts its three leads at the board and removes it, but this is optional.
- Remove the four screws holding the switch boards to the case. The buttons are spring-loaded and the springs are easily lost.
- Remove the screws holding the main board. They, and the switch board screws, are smaller than the case screws; keep the two sizes apart, because a case screw in a board hole will not tighten properly or will damage the case.
For the cartridge modification the tutorial removes the 0 Ω link at J9 and uses 27 pads in all: 24 for the cartridge and three for a cartridge-insertion switch, including J3. The pad positions vary between board revisions; on the most common board, pads 18 and 23 are away from the others. The copper pads lift easily because their adhesive is sensitive to heat, and a lifted pad is hard to repair because the pads sit close to the epoxy-covered chips. The author pre-tins each pad with a hot iron held on for about a second, because the heating is cumulative.[3]
Related pages
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Wikipedia, "Atari Flashback": home consoles (original, Flashback 2, 2+, 3 to 8, later models). en.wikipedia.org.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Nerdly Pleasures, "Atari Flashback 2: The Only Flashback Worth Anything", December 2017: hardware, controllers, case, cartridge pads and hidden paddle menu. nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com. Owner's hands-on review.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Flashback 2 Central, "Modification Tutorial", last modified 1 August 2021: disassembly, pre-tinning, J9 and J3, pad numbering by Curt Vendel and board revisions. flashback2.com. Community modification guide.